Disclaimer: Don't own.

"Sleipnir"

"Fenrir"

"Harry"

Chapter Twenty

The first breath of air he took when his mind came back to his body was like he had breached the surface of a lake. It filled his screaming lungs and assured him he was alive. He opened his eyes to take in his surroundings, and came face to face with an unfamiliar person, who was hovering over his prone body.

"Amazing." The woman breathed. "It's just as you said, Director Fury. I'm sorry I ever doubted you. He was medically dead for almost half an hour, there should be no way he's-"

"He's still right here." Harry deadpanned. He grimaced at how breathless his voice sounded.

The woman smiled sheepishly, and continued what he assumed she had been doing before he woke up, which was placing a freezing cold stethoscope against his bare chest.

"Welcome back, Mr. Potter."

Of course he was here. Harry should have known when the woman (either a doctor or a nurse) had addressed him, but he still scowled at the man's voice, and turned his head slightly to look in his direction.

"Director Fury, so glad you could be here for my resurrection. Just wait, I'm about to turn water into wine." He said nonchalantly.

The dark skinned man smirked. "Right after you walk on water, I'm sure. There's someone that will probably want to see you, shall I let them in?"

The wizard shrugged as well as he could with the doctor fluttering around him checking his blood pressure and inconsequential things, marveling under her breath at the way his abdomen wound had healed and his miracle of actually being alive. He ignored her tactfully. "Sure, might as well get the yelling over with." He sighed, ignoring the woman's comments. Instead he told her, "Doctor, I might need some medicine that deals with headaches soon."

She frowned, "Why? Do you have one now? You could have told me sooner. Is it possibly a side effect of your-"

"No, ma'am, I don't have one now, but I will have one in a few minutes." He cut her off in mid scold/query.

She directed a confused look his way, but backed off when he motioned her away, seeing as there was no visible injury for her to treat on this patient. All tests on him had run clean. It was a medical miracle, and she made sure to send some of his blood to the labs, to see if something could come of it.

"Director, if you would. They'll only get worse with the wait." Harry said, and with another infuriating smirk the man opened the door (seemingly lined with lead, as that was the only substance Harry was aware of found naturally on this Earth that blocked the waves of a mental link. He had not spent the whole time on this ship idle.) and admitting the large grey stallion that had a small wolf pup on its back. The doctor made a noise of discontent, probably because it was not sterile to allow animals in the medical room, but Harry found himself to busy to care.

While Sleipnir was calm to those observing, he was mentally tearing down the wizard. "You idiot. You were dead! You were dead, and the link was cut! How would you protect us if you had died and moved on? How do you know this would not be the time that your immortality ended and you were sent to the death realm? You are an imbecile, and I was as foolish as a colt to trust you would help us I-"

"Sleipnir. I am sorry I worried you." Harry calmly told him, and that seemed to take the wind out of his sails, as tension that was almost unnoticeable in his broad shoulders eased imperceptibly, and he moved forward to nudge at the prone man.

"You died, and I could do nothing." This was said in a softer tone, and the horse, for the first time, sounded as young as he was. Fenrir jumped off his brother's back onto his packmate, and snuffled almost desperately at him.

And for the first time, a small, childish voice joined the cool tones in Harry's head. "Packmate okay?"

Harry's eyes softened as he realized fully what he had put these poor creatures through, and he put his hands on each of them, stroking their furs and murmuring out loud, "I'm okay."

He sat up carefully, shifting Fenrir from his chest to his lap, and looked Fury in the eye. "Where's everyone else?" He asked, knowing that Cap, at least, would be outside the door to make sure his soldier was okay.

The small flash of guilt in the single visible eye was all the wizard needed before he was off the bed and in the man's face. "What did you do?" He growled. He had no idea that his eyes were glowing an unnatural shade of green with his power, or that his magic, normally so well contained, was flying about the room, his anger tinging it with a clear malice. He did not notice the nameless woman doctor backing herself in the corner, gasping for air as the rage stole her breath.

He just knew that this man had done something to the team, to his friends, and he knew it wasn't good.

"They needed the push." Fury ground out, well aware that it was only an act of sheer will that he wasn't as breathless as the Doctor. "I told them what they needed to hear to give them the proper motivation. They weren't going to work together without something driving them."

Harry crowded closer to him, his face thunderous as he was well aware the other man was trying to avoid the question. "What. Did you. Do?"

"I told them... you were dead."

He was thrown off when Harry's countenance seemed to calm, but he knew that it was just a farce. The gentle, animal-loving, seemingly easily manipulable Potter was gone, and in his place- no, hidden beneath that veneer, was a man who was powerful enough to end his existence with a thought, and had no qualms against using that power when angered.

Perhaps that was why he got on so well with Banner.

"Where are they?"

And he told the man exactly where they were. He told himself it was because he thought they needed the back up, but he knew deep down that he was feeling the fear of a prey animal to a predator, and he had no further wish to make Potter any angrier with him.

Harry appeared with a soundless whoosh of air after attaining the precise coordinates of the tower from that bastard. He'd left a pair of displeased animal gods, in fear that if he brought them they would be hurt.

He looked around, noting that he was in penthouse, and that he was not as alone as he had thought, though.

Before him stood two rather shocked men that he was very familiar with.

"Er- hi. Am I interrupting something?"

Stark was the first to react, though it seemed all his considerable brain mass was capable of was pointing at him and stammering, "B-but you were dead!"

Harry shrugged. "I got better."

Loki apparently snapping out of it, frowned in a displeased fashion at him. "Is that going to happen every time I kill you?" He asked archly.

The wizard lifted an eyebrow. "I think I'll make an effort not to let you kill me again, thanks." Turning to Stark, he motioned towards the crazed god. "Aren't we supposed to be blasting him, or something? Because if we're just going to stand here..."

That seemed to bring the two others back to the realities of the situation.

"What was I saying? Right, you against... your brother the demi-god; a super soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend; a man with breath-taking anger management issues; a couple of master assassins; and this guy," At this he motioned to an amused Harry, "Who, for all intents and purposes just came back from the dead. And you, big fella, you've just pissed off every single one of them."

Loki sneered, though he didn't seem as sure as he was only moments ago, and his eyes darted over to Harry every few moments. "That was the plan."

Harry hated this part of the big final battle against some bad guy or another. Banter always took forever. But who was he to deny Stark his fun?

"Not a great plan. When they come, and they will, they'll come for you." Stark pointed out, and it appeared where Loki was less sure at Harry's appearance, Stark was more confident. Probably because he had some pretty good back up.

"I have an army." Loki said.

Stark grinned. "We have a Hulk, and at this point he's pretty unhappy with you. By the way, Harry, thanks for giving the big guy enough of your magic elixer to last him for the trip to get here. I don't think the others would have a very good time if he Hulked out in the small jet they're using to get here."

Harry smiled, and it was vicious. "No problem, Tony. Can't wait to see my new friend again. I hope he greets our new friend here very... vigorously." Hey, he might have come back, but dying hurt.

"The beast is a mindless tool!" The god proclaimed, though he was visibly sweating now.

"He's not." Stark and Harry defended in unison, before the inventor continued alone. "But you're missing the point. There's no throne, there is no version of this, where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you. 'Cause if we can't protect the earth, you can be damned well sure we'll avenge it."

"Ooh, nice play on the team's name." Harry complimented, and Tony tuned to grin at him, and in his distraction Loki lunged forward and shouted, "How will they fight me when they're so busy fighting you?" He pressed the tip of his staff against the glowing blue of whatever it was the scientist had embedded in his body. He seemed confused when the other man had no other reaction than to tilt his head. "This... usually works." The god said with a slight hint of sheepishness.

"Well, performance issues, you know?" Tony said, and Harry snorted.

His amusement was cut off when the god lifted the man off his feet by his throat, and throws him across the room.

With a snarl the wizard (who was relieved they were finally getting to the good part that lead to the end) threw up his hand to cast a bombarda at the god, who barely had enough time to throw up a shimmering blue shield with his staff. The shield was dropped afterwards and a bolt of blue light was sent in Harry's direction, and he dodged it with the grace of someone who was used to fighting. He sneered at the other man, but noticed he was no longer where he had last seen him.

"You will all fall before me!" The god shouted from off to the side, before throwing Tony out the fucking window.

Harry saw red.

And Loki hit the ground with a scream as he felt as if all of his nerves were on fire. He writhed in pain for what felt like an eternity, but in reality was only a minute, before the searing pain stopped, and he staggered to his feet.

What was this man, this world-traveler? This being who could conjure objects, transform he, a god, into a large bug, and now take him down and make him feel pain like he had never felt before without making a movement.

Oh, movement. Apparently while he was distracted, the other man had been moving closer and tackled him, throwing punches and almost knocking off his crown. And each physical hit was amplified by short bursts of the same pain from before.

"You killed him you killed him you killed him-" Was all the other man said as the god made attempts to throw him off, but nothing came of it until a shout was heard out the broken window.

The angered being looked up, and his pale and twisted face melted into relief.

"Harry, get off of him." It was the voice of the Man of Iron! Will the people he kills today not stay dead?!

Harry happily obliged, and watched the god climb shakily to his feet again. Just to be knocked off them once more by some sort of energy blast that Tony shot.

Then he threw himself to the ground as a wave of malevolent energy burst overhead. He hadn't noticed the hum of it in the background before, but it was impossible to ignore now.

"Tony!" He shouted. "What the bloody hell was that?!"

"I kind of forgot that we have an army heading our way." The man answered.

Harry cursed, sent a malevolent glare at the downed god (who seemed to have no desire to get back up any time soon) and pulled his broom from his recovered bag. He mounted it and joined Tony in hovering out the window. He may not care about the people he was fighting for (Fury came to mind) but he sure as hell cared for the people who were fighting.

I'm so sorry I missed Friday's update. As an apology I'll be updating Crestfallen twice today. This chapter, and another one in maybe twelve hours. You see, I had to do this BBQ competition this weekend, which totally saps me of any and all energy. Right, anyway, so Fenrir's link has strengthened to the point he can get a few short, simple sentences across. And Harry used the Cruciatus. But remember, he's eight hundred, and he's gotten a bit more ruthless in years since hoggy warty Hogwarts. Plus, for a moment he thought Loki had killed Tony. Anywho, off to maybe hopefully possibly get some sleep before I post the next one.

Lionna

PS: Plans to rule the world have fallen through as my weapons connection died of chocolate OD. We buried her with a Glock and a Hershey's. But fear not, I'll find someone else! Eventually!